(Give Away is now closed)  And the winner is number 20 (via Random org number generator) out of 44 comments  which is

Wow, I sure haven’t been on here for a while.  So very busy with other things, like traveling and buying a fixer-upper house.  But, I’ve been having my mind set on doing a GIVE-AWAY like other ladies do on their blogs, and Mother’s Day, I thought was the perfect time to start.

Tea party Tea-time mats

Not that I have much more time on my hands now, we are still in the middle of remodeling our house.  The good thing is that we don’t need to be out of our present location just yet.

Well, to start off, I figured I would do a Mug Mat or Tea-Time Mat Give-Away. Get a totally Unique, hand-made, and custom-ordered Mug Mat or Tea-Time Mat for your mom.  Buy a lovely tea cup or mug to match it, and your gift is totally unique.

I have a bunch and can make more, so if you don’t win, just let me know which one or ones you want.

You could get your mom a couple of mats and she can have a nice tea party with her friends.

Shabby Chic Roses

All you need to do to win one of my lovely mats, your choice,

1) is leave me a comment about your mom, or whoever you want the mat for, and which mat you like the best (Here are pictures of the rest of my mats)

2) like my facebook page

3) share this giveaway on your  facebook page

Strawberries

4) and an extra entry if you blog about this giveaway on your blog.

Come back here and leave me a comment for each separate entry. (If you already “liked” my facebook page, still come back and put it in a comment for a chance to win)

(P.S.  I will ship free to US and Canada, but anywhere else

Purple pinwheels

you have to pay the shipping (at least part of it) if you win)

Give-Away will close on Monday the 7th of May, to give enough time hopefully for the shipping in time for Mother’s day.

Tea-time mats are a little bigger than the Mug mats.  Mug mats are about 7 1/2″ by 10″ and the Tea-time mats, with the ruffle, are about 9 1/2″ by 12″.

Tea-time mats are 15 dollars a piece and mug mats are 12.

Enjoy getting your mom something totally unique and something so pretty this Mother’s Day, whether you win, make one or a couple yourself, or order some from me.

I haven’t made mug mats in a while now.  I will make some more later, after my constant travels.  In November to Nebraska, December to Arkansas, Colorado, and California, and this month we plan to go to South Dakota, Arkansas, and then to Belize.  I’ll be happy to be home at least for a little while after this .

Vintage Tea-time mat

One Mug Mat I made around Thanksgiving, was a vintage looking mug mat, or I like to call it a tea-time mat. It’s slightly bigger; just the right size for a small platter and the tea cup.  I plan to experiment and make a variety of vintage mug mats, or tea-time mats. I bought a couple of Moda fabrics that have roses on them, which I think look vintage.

Frayed edges of Vintage tea-time mat

Anyway, Here’s the picture of the one I made.  What do you think?  If anyone has any suggestions on how to make the mug mat look vintage, frayed edges, and any other ideas, do let me know.

I’ve had some requests for a tutorial on how to make a mug mat.

Log Cabin Mug Mat

Basically, it’s just a very small quilt.  I’ve made a slideshow with the audio being my own voice now instead of just music, as I’ve done with my previous slideshows.  I can’t stand listening to myself, but hopefully you can bear with me.

Maybe leave me some response of whether you like it with music, or with my voice audio.

If you make some mug mats following my simple instructions, please post some pics on my Learn How to Make Quilts facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Learn-How-To-Make-Quilts/

Today I’m posting a blog post draft I wrote back in early November.  Enjoy!!

I’ve recently been enjoying whipping up these cute mug mats.  The ideas keep coming, although they don’t always come out exactly the way I have envisioned them.

Lovely pink roses mug mat!

Today I went outdoors with my mats, cookies and biscotti I baked the other day, and some tea cup sets.  Also brought out some yummy hot chocolate and even some coffee.  Then I picked some lovely roses that are blooming outside, and lovin this lovely fall air we are having.

Inspite of the 20 mph Oklahoma wind today, I enjoyed the shoot outside.  Too bad it wasn’t a real tea party, with friends and all.

I plan to post a tutorial on how I make some of these mats for those of you interested in making some yourselves.   For those of you interested in buying some as gifts for your friends and family, contact me.

Enjoy the slideshow!  Don’t get too hungry

I just love it when I see my nieces and nephews, actually that goes for any kids, love their handmade quilts.

Quilts that are lovingly made for them, either by family members, their mother, or custom made just for them.  Unique, and handmade gifts are always the best.

My niece and her beloved quilt

One of my nieces drags the quilt I made for her all around.  Now when she visited and didn’t have her quilt with her and saw a picture of it, she said she missed it.

Lovingly biting his quilt.

Ohh how special that makes me feel. Almost feels like I get a little bit of that love that a child feels only for it’s mother. Which at times I envy of my sisters, since I can’t have my own children.

My nephew loving his quilt

The other day when I visited my sister, my nephew ran around the house with a quilt his great aunt made for him.  It was so sweet to see him loving his quilt.

My sister says he often smiles when he sees one of his quilts and lovingly touches it.  I guess it spells home, love and comfort to them.

Some months ago I saw a good friend of mine, Rosella’s Lane, had made some gorgeous camera straps.  I love her style and the look of them.  I might make one similar to hers someday, but for now, I had another brilliant inspiration.  At least I think it is so .

I don’t often buy the very pretty, better quality quilting fabric, but recently in my following of various Moda fabric designer blogs, I have been drooling over some gorgeous fabrics.

So one day, my husband made an extra 40 minute trip to one of our local quilting fabric shops and bought me a BIG gift card.  It was totally unexpected, yet such a very pleasant surprise.  He said it was a late birthday/anniversary gift.

One of my sisters was visiting and she wanted to make a feathered star quilt,

My other sister's feathered star quilt

which I have been wanting to make myself. One of our other sisters had made one some years ago.  So, we went to the quilting fabric store, and I selected some lovely fabrics for my quilt.  I added some of my own pieces at home, and I am going to have one gorgeous quilt.  I will show you some of that later.

My new Camera Strap Cover

Okay, let me get to the point here.  As I was cutting out many of those little blocks for this quilt, there were many tiny little scraps.  Too little to sew into another block for a quilt.  I hated to throw them away, so this was my idea.  Sew them crazy like onto a camera strap.

I love it.  I can’t stop looking at my lovely new camera strap.  Quite vain of me, heh?? So, here’s a little tutorial slideshow.  Enjoy!!

Press PAUSE whenever it’s going too fast for you.

For some years I have been collecting old jeans, pants, jumpers, ect….  Jeans out of style, nobody wants to wear anymore, too ragged, and so on.

I threw them into a box, and recently I took them out and began cutting them into two different size blocks; a bigger and a smaller.  Most of the leftover from this I just threw away.  Clearing up space and have blocks ready, was the goal.

A couple weeks ago, with asking my husband what he wanted, I planned my jean rag quilt.  I was going to make it a regular rag quilt with a jean block on the front and one on the back with the seams out on top.  But, my husband wanted jeans only on top, and the back to have a comfortable cotton fabric, and with cotton batting in between.

So, I sewed together one layer of jean blocks, with the seams on top and make them ragged.  Then I put the three layers on the frame, and made big stitches with embroidery thread to hold the three layers together.

Lovely Jean Rag Quilt

The outcome is a really comfy and soft blanket, much more than both I or my husband expected.  Even the ragged jean top is soft. It’s a heavier blanket, yet so very soft and comfy.  Both my husband and I love it.

My niece helping me pin the squares and occasionally my cat keeps us company

It didn’t take long to make.  I did take a couple days to snip the seams for the ragged edges, just so I wouldn’t get blisters on my

hands.  Just snips here and there during my days.  I took about 4-6 days I believe to finish it, including all the snipping.

My husband's farm animals quilt.

I had finished a quilt earlier this summer which my husband loved a lot, so I said he could have it, but I figured this one was somewhat his birthday quilt, August 8th.  I didn’t get it quite finished for that day, but that doesn’t really matter.  We never do much in as far as celebration goes anyway.  We did go out to lunch a couple days later with my parents, who treated us.  It took us a couple days to find a time where it suited us all to go out.

I made a couple shopping bags last week, and intended to post a tutorial for you quilters and seamstresses out there.

I have been learning how to do this blogging “thing” on my website and also adding new pages to my website.  Unfortunately, for a lot of it, I often need my husband’s help.  So, needless to say, sometimes my tirade of questions, especially when he’s working on his own website at his computer, can become a frustration to him.

Okay, so slow it down.  I guess I was going overboard with my questioning.  I can always do a post another day.  A tirade of questions when you’re trying to accomplish something?  Who wouldn’t get frustrated.  I would for sure.  We just don’t consider when we are the ones with the questions.

He does help me a lot lot lot, and is most patient with me.  I really really appreciate him. I couldn’t do this without him.  He is such a great support to me.

Here’s a picture of the bag to wet your appetite.

shopping/gift bag with quilt spilling out